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King Kenny and the Curious Case of Whiskey Nose

The Liverpool and Manchester United rivalry is the biggest rivalry for both clubs. The importance of these fixtures to both sets of supporters has long overtaken the local rivalries — the Merseyside and Manchester derbies. This rivalry dates back to a reserve team game in Glasgow and came to light during this week following Manchester United’s draw against Benfica. How does it all come together?

Going back to 1969 Kenny Dalglish lined up for Celtic to play Rangers in a reserve team game. Dalglish, a striker by trade played at center back for “educational purposes” according to The Independents Ian Herbert who interviewed Dalglish prior to Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United in March of this year. Ferguson, also a striker was man marked by Dalglish. To this day both disagree about what happened. Dalglish maintains Ferguson never scored and Celtic won, 2-0, however Ferguson believes he scored, but ended up on the losing side. This was to be the first of many battles between the two men.

Fast forward to 1986 and the build up to the World Cup in Mexico. Scotland successfully qualified for the World Cup, Alex Ferguson was assistant manager to Jock Stein in the national team set up. Dalglish decided not to join the Scottish National Team, but instead opted to go under the knife for knee surgery. This decision was seen as a blow to Ferguson who sang the praises of Dalglish earlier in the qualifying campaign to reporters.

The significance of Alex Ferguson being interviewed by Kelly Cates (see video below) formerly Kelly Dalglish, after Manchester United’s champions league game against Benfica this past Wednesday has relevance to this rivalry. Did Cates overstep a boundary by asking Ferguson whether Anders Lindegaard had done enough to start ahead of David De Gea for this weekends game against Chelsea? Definitely not to warrant a snappy response. “I don’t know why you ask these questions. You are just looking for stupid little things,” Ferguson said to Cates. It was a normal question that any other journalist would have asked in her position, but it does show us that Ferguson is still irked by Kenny Dalglish, whether it is him personally or a member of his family.

A recent norm around Liverpool has been to allow Alex Ferguson to get away with whatever he wants when the topic of Liverpool FC is brought up. No more so that when Roy Hodgson painstakingly tried to manage a club way above his capability. Hodgson and Ferguson are best friends. That fact alone did not sit well with many Liverpool supporters when he took over. Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier done enough to rebuff Ferguson’s attempts to drag them into his petty games, but it wasn’t until Rafa Benitez that someone actually stood up to Ferguson. Liverpool supporters will forever be divided about Benitez, but he didn’t let the darling of the British press get away with much while he was in charge of Liverpool.

Thankfully, Kenny Dalglish embodies the history and ethos of the Liverpool way and knows how to represent the club’s supporters as well as get under Ferguson’s skin. Dalglish wants to return Liverpool to the glory days while also bringing down “Whiskey Nose” a few pegs. That is something that should sit well with all Liverpool supporters.

About Jonathan Carroll

I’m a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Born and bred in Ireland I played Gaelic football and soccer while growing up and attended the prestigious Colaiste Ide in Dublin to prepare for a soccer scholarship to the USA. I played soccer at Thomas University in Georgia and was made team captain in my junior and senior years. I was honored to become an All-American in those same years. I graduated in 2007 and coached high school and collegiate level soccer programs incorporating year round strength and conditioning techniques with great success. I moved to Boston in 2011 and went on to work at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning. I am currently the head strength and conditioning coach for the Boston Wolfe Tones Gaelic football team.
Qualifications:
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA)
USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach
FMS Certified
United States Soccer Federation “D” License
Football Association of Ireland Certified

3 thoughts on “King Kenny and the Curious Case of Whiskey Nose”

I think Ferguson’s hatred of Liverpool goes back to 1980 when his Aberdeen side was ruthlessly taken apart at Anfield in a European Cup tie.Liverpool won 4-0 with the Kop mocking the Scots with chants of ‘why are we so gude’ Dalglish was among the scorers on the night